Jenny Victoria PANTOJA TORRES
The essayist, historian and academic Jenny Pantoja Torres faced several instances of harassment for her ideas, writings and peaceful activism in relation to human rights in 2024.
On 18 June 2024, Pantoja Torres was arbitrarily detained while travelling to Havana together with Alina Bárbara López Hernández (see below under Judicial Harassment) for their monthly peaceful protest against censorship by the Cuban authorities. The academics were detained for 11 hours at the La Playa police station in Matanzas, where they were interrogated and charged with 'attempt' to assault police officers in the line of duty and placed under precautionary house arrest.
On 18 July, police officers prevented Pantoja Torres from attending her peaceful demonstration. On 23 July she was made redundant from her job as a professor at the Miguel Enríquez Faculty of the University of Medical Sciences in Havana due to alleged cuts to the teaching staff. However, according to Pantoja Torres, State Security officials had pressured the dean to dismiss her and on two occasions police officers had threatened her with an end to her professional career.
On 18 September 2024, it was reported that Pantoja Torres was detained and released hours later, following police surveillance and threats from State Security and the National Police.
Essayist, historian and academic Jenny Pantoja Torres is an anthropologist and historian, and a specialist in Cuban religious practices of African origin. She is the coordinator of the Pro-Amnesty Committee for political prisoners in Cuba. Her book Del Templo al temple. Silencios y escándalos de la masonería cubana (Editorial Primigenios) was published in 2022.
